st General Chasteler had built
another bridge two miles below the castle of Trezzo. These two bridges
had been, the one repaired and the other built, without the French
outposts having the slightest suspicion of what was taking place.

Surprised at two o'clock in the morning by two Austrian divisions, which,
concealed by the village of San Gervasio, had reached the right bank of
the Adda without their being discovered, the soldiers defending the
castle of Trezzo abandoned it and beat a retreat. The Austrians pursued
them as far as Pozzo, but there the French suddenly halted and faced
about, for General Serrurier was at Pozzo, with the troops he had brought
from Lecco. He heard the cannonade behind him, immediately halted, and,
obeying the first law of warfare, he marched towards the noise and smoke.
It was therefore through him that the garrison of Trezzo rallied and
resumed the offensive. Serrurier sent an aide-de-Camp to Moreau to
inform him of the manoeuvre he had thought proper to execute.

The battle between the French and Austrian troops raged with incredible
fury. Bonaparte's veterans, during their first Italian campaigns, had
adopted a custom which they could not renounce: it was to fight His
Imperial Majesty's subjects wherever they found them. Nevertheless, so
great was the numerical superiority of the allies, that our troops had
begun to retreat, when loud shouts from the rearguard announced that
reinforcements had arrived. It was General Grenier, sent by Moreau, who
arrived with his division at the moment when his presence was most
necessary.

One part of the new division reinforced the centre column, doubling its
size; another part was extended upon the left to envelop the enemy. The
drums beat afresh down the whole line, and our grenadiers began again to
reconquer this battle field already twice lost and won. But at this
moment the Austrians were reinforced by the Marquis de Chasteler and his
division, so that the numerical superiority was again with the enemy.
Grenier drew back his wing to strengthen the centre, and Serrurier,
preparing for retreat in case of disaster, fell back on Pozzo, where he
awaited the enemy. It was here that the battle raged most fiercely:
thrice the village of Pozzo was taken and re-taken, until at last,
attacked for the fourth time by a force double their own in numbers, the
French were obliged to evacuate it. In this last attack an Austrian
colonel was mortally wounde